30 October 2009

Here is a batch of the second attempt at Halloween pictures! Much better! I only took a couple with Phillip because of his little cold. Mia was much more cooperative because I bribed her with M&Ms. She is a chocolate girl through and through.

This morning we went to the hospital to get an x-ray for Phillip. The Dr in Scottsbluff needs one to examine his respiratory tract. Alison let me watch three of her kids while she cleaned house. Her parents are visiting for the next couple days! Justin is tagging along with Matt and Alison's dad on a duck hunting trip. They are leaving at 3:30 am...crazy. I can't get Justin to move a book case but he will get up to hunt. The guys promise to be back before trick or treating time.

Mia is going through another crusty phase. This morning she wanted a bowl of candy corn covered in chocolate milk. Of course I was shocked and did not let her start the day with candy but gave her a bowl of wheat chex (super yum). She cried for 2 hours until we went to the hospital. Usually outings in public snap her out of her little funks. Geepers...I did the same thing! An angel in public and a cry baby at home. After her nap I put a crying Amelia into her autumn fairy costume and put pig tails in her hair. I thought Noah's flood was coming again due to the amount of tears. Once she realized candy was involved her smiles were non-stop. She absolutely loves to visit Justin at work. Phillip wore the little chick coat Mia wore two seasons ago. It was a bit large but enough to suffice. We had fun watching Amelia catch on to the candy and treats. She balked at getting her picture taken by a company employee, but was fine with putting her face in a cut out form. Mia and Mommy had a special outing to Walmart to get her a purple pumpkin bucket using Grandma Call's dollar. She was in heaven to have me alone for a little while. We sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" seven times on the way home.

29 October 2009

Busy as a bee! That is the story at our new house! This week I finished our bedroom, Phillip's bedroom, and most of Mia's bedroom. The living room now has a couch AND love seat and a couple pictures hung. The kitchen is about 90 percent completed. I am still missing a box of decorating stuff for the living room. I even started on the basement this evening! Justin and Brother Siler took a huge load of boxes, packing paper, and the old dryer to the dump on Wednesday. Now the garage is mostly empty so we can park in it...just in time before a nasty snow storm hit this evening. We have a nice 4-5 foot drift on the south side of our house. The snow comes in side ways here in Nebraska creating awesome snow formations. I have a healthy respect for the Martin and Willey hand cart companies who were stranded not too far from us in similar blizzard conditions. The freeways are closed for today and probably tomorrow morning. I was so busy cleaning and organizing that I did not get dressed for the day until 2:30. For dinner I made a delicious Taco Soup to warm bellies after shoveling or playing in the snow.

Before the snow hit we had a balmy but cloudy day. I took a couple pictures of the kids on Monday (the ones shown) but it was freezing cold. Needless to say they weren't very cooperative. These were the best shots. The next day was the balmy day so we went out again and had an awesome session. I am still editing those puppies. Plus, the Bishop's son is going to be baptized on Monday. His mother requested a photo shoot. You can view his pictures on my photo blog.

Phillip weighs 10 lbs 12 oz as of Tuesday. He is now 22.75" inches long and oddly has a normal sized head. I am constantly surprised our kids have normal head sizes. His weight is in the 30th percentile and his height is in the 65th percentile. The doctor was a little concerned about his noisy breathing. When he breathes his trachea collapses a little creating a strange sucking noise as he struggles to breathe. He scheduled us to go see a pulminologist in Scottsbluff on the 17th of November. He said not to worry too much since soft trachea's are some what common but wants us to check it out.

The last bit of news is that both Amelia and I got haircuts on Wednesday. Mine is super cute...photos pending. He stacking up the back so I no longer have flat hair syndrome and cut it short again. Mia just got a bang trim and the ends trimmed. I love her eyes so am glad to see them again.

Phillip is now two months old! His calendar is sadly neglected in some box, which I found today. To date he is more awake and alert. His favorite time to be cute is on the changing table, where he smiles and coos at me. He discovered his little voice about 10 days ago. Phillip can be found talking to the animals under his playmat. He is not so aware of Amelia yet because she moves to fast for him to get a good look at her. Tuesday we will find out how much he weighs and those other important stats. He is one cute little man! My only worry is his breathing and extreme snoring. Yikes!

In early September I took some pictures of Phillip using our wedding rings as props. A couple days later I realized my ring was AWOL. I thought maybe Amelia found it or it got jumbled up on the mail pile. For weeks I surreptitiously looked for my ring, then confessed to Justin that it was lost. Miekka helped me look for it in the couch and as we moved stuff to the new house. No ring! By Friday I was really anxious because we were nearly moved out of the apartment, in the process of cleaning and clearing the final stuff. Earlier in the day I removed all the bedding to wash before remaking the bed. The last thing I did was take the bedding out of my car and onto the bed. As I remade the bed I noticed my ring sitting squarely in the middle. I know for a fact my ring was not in the sheets when they were washed because I gave everything a hefty shaking before loaded. But there it was sparkly as ever sitting on the mattress. I asked Justin if he found it and put it there as an "I found it first and told you so!" He said no...it must be the miracle of the ring. We considered painting a cross over the bed to mark the spot of our own little miracle.

24 October 2009

Boy! We are pretty tired here at the Call household...pretty happy too! All week I worked on unpacking and ironically repacking the same boxes. It felt like two steps forward and three back. After 9 months in the rental unit we accumulated the equivalent of another household sans major furniture. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent a couple hours packing and stuffing our cars with as much stuff as possible. Friday morning I buckled down and spent the entire morning packing and with the help of Alison and her van transported about 80% of our stuff to the new house. Man, Alison is an angel! Her and Matt constantly answer to our calls for assistance. She is earning a butt load of free photo shoots and cute crocheted hats. Friday by 10 pm we were completely out of the house...well, the goldfish are still swimming over there. Another friend traded skills with me, she cleaned our apartment for free in exchange for updated family pictures. After the pizza/oven fiasco she earned her dues by cleaning the oven. That story is summed up with these words: flimsy pizza, no cutting board, trying to get pizza out of oven with cardboard, and falling into hot oven door crack. Now that we are out of the apartment I can empty boxes and organize with everything in one location. Progress will be made...one room at a time.

Wednesday evening we spent our first night at the new house. It was hard to settle down to sleep! We are super glad to sleep in our huge King SIZED bed after 9 months. I put Phillip's crib together. Amelia was upset that her princess bed was transformed into a monkey crib. She still has her princess pillow. Melissa, Jonathon, Ethan, and Grant joined us that first night. They were passing through back to Utah after a visit to the Calls in Virginia. I am afraid they were rather neglected as I raced around trying to get everything set for sleeping. Melissa just jumped right in and made our bed and helped put Amelia's door on. Poor guys were worn out after driving 36 hours. I am glad Justin put the guest bed together. Ethan found a comfy bed in Phillip's Moses basket! The boys and Mia helped me give Phillip a bath the next morning.

Thursday we took a morning break. Justin's coworkers threw us a baby shower for Phillip. We had a little lunch at the Goose pit, a couple gifts, and cake. Their generosity was much appreciated. The kids wore their matching leaf outfits! I was excited for an opportunity to dress them up.

Justin is earning angel wings. He is so patient with me and my crazy ideas. I wanted to paint all the trim and doors, so removed all the doors AND hardware. I did not know hardware is door specific so everything was jumbled up. The doors are not fitting back into the frames because the screw holes are stripped and the hardware mixed up. He did not say "I told you so..." in words at least. He has to give me a picture of what to do (explain why) otherwise I'll do it my way, which is not organized.

Today I felt encouraged to get one room completely finished. The toilet was in the tub and the kids needed a bath so the main bathroom was organized. Sometimes the movers pack silly stuff. I found three entire sheets of paper cradling two stale crackers the other day. Amelia helped me by putting stuff back in boxes once I unwrapped the items. It was fun to watch her begin to sort stuff. By noon all the sundry items were put away, by 1 pm the toilet installed, and by dinner the bathroom was cleaned, decorated, and ready for action. Getting one room done was very encouraging. We took another break this evening to watch a movie at the local theater, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It was very silly and more than a little strange. The kid's book is about a thousand times better. Mia enjoyed it!

19 October 2009

Our storage units stand empty and alone with the wind blowing through the cracks. We've waited 9 months for this moment! I got up at 6:30 am to make a donut run to the best bakery in town. You have to get there early otherwise only the plain cake donuts are left. Justin could not find the keys to our second storage unit so we frantically searched every obvious place. He went to Walmart to get bolt cutters and a dremel tool. Miekka said she arrived to find the guys in a semi-circle watching Brother Mason drill the lock to break it. How many guys does it take to break a lock? About 7!! I stayed at the house with the kids then directed traffic once the stuff started to come. The units were empty by noon and our house full of boxes. Miekka helped me unpack stuff until 1 pm. We went back to the condo for lunch and naps. We pretty much unpacked the entire kitchen by dinner time! Miekka had a yummy hot Indian flavored pot pie waiting for us. I am so grateful Miekka decided to stay an extra day.

We had some fun times with the Lances. Lia wore her first pony tail. Seth and Jacob taught Mia about super heroes. Yesterday afternoon she wanted a super hero cape!! The kids ate about 5 pounds of grapes, boxes of crackers, bags of cereal, and drank gallons of lemonade and milk. Lia showed off her extra cute gummy smile and squealed quite often. Justin thinks she is about the most happy baby ever...I concur. Miekka and I...well, we always have a good time. There never seems to be a shortage of funny things to laugh over or creative ideas to brew up. She inspired several home decorating ideas that you will be able to view in the upcoming months. How awesome that my bestest friend is my sister now?! One funny story from moving day: Amelia wanted a beef bullion cube. Miekka told her it was a salty beef cube. I guess this sounded like candy to her shaped like bright shiny red squares to boot. After an hour of imploring I finally unwrapped one and stuck it in her mouth. At first she started to say, yummy, but that soon dissolved into a gag reflex. She spit it out into my hand. Seth walked by at this moment and he asked what the brown cube was. I replied "a salty beef cube." He took a bite and immediately spit it out. He went into the basement and barfed...lol...my own fault. Those salty beef cubes are nothing to mess around with!!

I made a selfish claim yesterday. Justin wanted the bigger basement room for his office. I wanted the bigger room for my craft room. The room has to be multi-functional because it also needs to house the spare bed, toy storage, and overflow storage as well. Friday night I told him he should let me have the room since he named Phillip and no new camera is in my future. He was not convinced. Since I directed the traffic the bigger spare is now my craft room. I guess if he really wants it he can move the stuff out!!

Phillip caught a nasty cough and flu. He threw up so forcefully that the canopy of his bed and the floor four feet away were covered. I think he has an ear infection due to the amount of drainage coming from his ears. Poor kid! I stayed home from church with both kids. Phillip due to sickness and Amelia due to a severe case of the crankies. She rested on the couch for several hours before popping up with a happy smile. Miekka and crew drove back home at 9 am. Justin was very excited in a geeky sort of way that his huge battery (for his c-pap backup power source) jump-started Miekka's van battery. Miekka and family made it safely home by 6:30. The weather was 80 degrees yesterday, compared to the 30 degrees less than a week ago. We enjoyed an hour at the park with Amelia before dinner. Justin had a church meeting at 5:30 so Mia, Phillip, and I went next door to visit Ada. She is 90 years old and quite chipper. She absolutely loves to hold Phillip and enjoy his snuggles. Amelia loves to sing and dance for Ada, her price is a kiss and a cookie. We try to visit Ada 1-2 times per week so she doesn't get too lonely.

This morning we were over at the house bright and early. A plumber had to come over and fix the connection to the washer, which had a slow leak. Yikes, plumbers are expensive. He also noted that the sink connection was about to slip off, the sink disposer is broken, and that it would not be easy to put our washer/dryer in the basement. I unpacked about 20 boxes! Progress. For some odd reason I volunteered to feed the missionaries tonight. Better go start cooking. We are having Chop Suey and egg rolls.

16 October 2009

I am a bit behind in the blogging. Justin said he has no idea what is happening in my life when I am remiss in updating my blog!! Miekka, Seth, Jacob, and Lia all arrived around 6:30 pm on Monday. I had spaghetti waiting for dinner. All day I spent finishing the touch up paint and general cleaning at the new house. Phillip helped me while Mia played with a friend. The kids are having a splendid time playing. Each kid has a melt down now and again but all in all they are enjoying their time together.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday the weather was very cold and rainy. We mostly stayed in doors on Tuesday. Miekka helped me put the blinds back on the windows, hang the border in Phillip's room (we ran out of border, only 4-5 feet without border...grrrr), put the fireplace grill back, and other stuff. We put all the kids to bed early due to extreme crabbiness and watched "My Life in Ruins." It is my new favorite movie; any movie that has a main character named Poopy Cacaus is awesome.

Wednesday morning I put the first coat of paint on all the doors. Then we decided to make a trip to the Sterling Home Depot in the afternoon. I loaded up on a lot of stuff needed to finish up the house. Miekka convinced me to install track lighting in the kitchen, which was our main reason for the trip. We were all pretty tired so stayed at home afterwards. I made a super cute shirt for Lia's first birthday.

Thursday morning we bathed all the kids and dressed them up for pictures. Miekka wanted new updated pictures of her three kids. We drove over to the train tracks and had fun freezing our buns off and enjoying the Nebraska breeze/wind. The kids did not last long but we stuck with it eventually getting some acceptable pictures. I accidentally left my wicker chair at the site...someone took it home before I realized what happened. Bummer...Then back to the house for more painting. During afternoon naps we took some stinkin' cute pictures of Lia in her birthday suit and birthday shirt. Posted pictures will appear one day soonish.

Today we installed the kitchen track lighting...it makes a HUGE difference. For lunch we met Justin at the Cabela's so the Lances would not leave here without a visit. I finished the painting the doors and Amelia's new bed. Miekka removed the last trace of painter's tape. Justin and Matt made three trips to the condo and/or storage unit for a couple items like food storage, random boxes, and the washer/dryer. Tomorrow will be the big move, bright and early at 8 am. Our new furniture was also delivered sans love seat this afternoon. Justin noticed the couch corners were damaged so the store will order us a new couch too. That is the essence of our past couple days...

11 October 2009

Miekka delayed her trip here until tomorrow...good thing! Sidney received about a total of 13 inches of snow, 6 sticking to the ground. It is very hard to believe we are only in the first part of October. All my winter stuff is back in storage from earlier this year. Now I need it again. Hopefully we can move in this week and solve that issue. The storm moved in Friday afternoon and snow started to fall around 9 pm. By 11:30 there was already about 5 inches on the ground. It was magical, the "snow light" and white snow glistening like a thousand crystals.

Justin was crazy enough to get up at 3 am to go duck hunting with Matt Haley and another buddy. He showed off his hunting gear before leaving. I love Amelia's expression: "What are you doing in that silly get up!" He had a great time shooting at ducks in the cold wilderness. Matt bagged 6 ducks, Justin said he missed shooting down an actual duck, BUMMER!

The kids and I mostly stayed home. Mia and I dressed up first thing and went outside to play in the snow. Amelia sang "Once There was a Snowman" over and over. She tromped in the slushy ice and crawled around in the snow. I gave her some hot chocolate once we got too cold. She was highly annoyed at me for warming up her chocolate milk...yikes!

We ventured to the library for a beading class, which was cancelled due to weather. Amelia was really crabby so we left after a little while. On our way home we showed Alison the new flooring in the house. It looks AWESOME. Pictures pending tomorrow. Mia had diarrhea on the way home causing another cleaning session in my car. Poor thing. She also threw up sometime Friday night and during her nap. Three weeks of poop and throw up is not fun! I hope she gets better soon. During naps I finished another outfit for Amelia. I crocheted a cute hat for myself as well. After dinner we went to the house for another painting session. The baseboards and trim are all finished now! The tape is off the walls. All that is left is touch up painting in red and the main beige color. My goal is to finish that tomorrow. During the week I will finish the doors. Hooray!! The house looks so awesome with its new colors.

08 October 2009

I am beat down tired!! Goodness sakes! Yesterday was my first day home in three days. We put in some serious hours at the house racing to get everything painted. We still have a ways to go with touching up the paint and finishing all the doors. About 80% of the tape is now off the walls and half the blinds are back up. The new flooring looks awesome. It seems like a totally different house with the lighter walls and congruent floors. Hopefully we can finish the touch up painting tonight. Then comes the fun part...decorating and moving in. I can't WAIT to unpack and rediscover all our belongings.

Mia spent half of the week playing with other kids in the ward while I painted my arm off. By Thursday she was so crabby from late nights and separation anxiety we took a day to just hang out. She went with us to the house on Tuesday and Thursday nights. I was afraid she'd get into the paint and make a huge mess. Instead she bopped around watching her movie (Lady and the Tramp), ate her snacks, jumped on her new mattress, and played with her pater-piller bike. At one point she did through a fit wanting to help. I gave her the choice of watching her movie or going to Alison's house. She watched her movie likety-split.

Thursday it snowed here in Sidney. We made one fast trip to Walmart for pie dough, then spent the rest of the day deep cleaning our temporary home. The cub scouts are having a pie drive so I volunteered to make two peach pies and buy two pies. I used my newly canned peaches for the filling. It was super yum...not too sweet. For dinner we had a piping hot chicken pot pie. Miekka, Seth, Jacob, and Lia are not coming now until Monday. The weather station issued a winter storm watch forecasting 3-8 inches of snow between here and west of Cheyenne. I am a bit bummed because they can't stay as long but still glad they are coming. Now the house will be done!

The last piece of news that I am very proud of is at my 6 week post partum checkup I learned that I am below my pre-pregnancy weight. Hooray! All that working out paid off this time. I still want to lose 5-10 pounds that I never lost after Amelia but all in all am doing MUCH better than I thought. Give me a pat on the back....

05 October 2009

Here are some of the outfits and hats I completed last week. Our kitchen table was overly cluttered with my sewing machine and fabric most of the week. I'd snatch a minute here and there to get something completed. I feel happy that Amelia and Phillip have coordinating fall outfits. I can't wait to try them on for our next outing. There are still 6 more outfits to finish before Amelia's wardrobe is complete for the winter season. Crafting will be much easier once my craft room is unpacked and organized. How wonderful it feels to say that!